EU top court orders reexamination of antitrust fine against Intel

[JURIST] The European Court of Justice (ECJ) [official website] ruled [text] on Wednesday that a 2009 antitrust case should be sent back to the lower court in order to reexamine the €1.06 billion fine placed on Intel [corporate website] in the matter. The EU General Court (EGC) [official website] previously found [WP report] in 2014 that Intel had violated EU competition law by using rebates to suppress computers using rival company AMD's [corporate website] chips in the European market. Intel has since referred to the fine as "manifestly disproportionate." In its Wednesday ruling, the ECJ determined that the EGC must now reexamine how much such rebates hindered competition from AMD. When the matter is eventually resolved, it is expected to have a larger impact on antitrust law in the EU.

High-profile antitrust litigation has been ongoing in 2017. In June, the EU fined Google and its parent company, Alphabet, € 2.42 billion for violating [JURIST report] EU antitrust restrictions.In May EU antitrust regulators fined Facebook $122 million for misleading information [JURIST report] regarding a deal for WhatsApp. In February the National Collegiate Athletic Association and 11 conferences agreed to a $208.7 million settlement [JURIST report] in a class action suit brought by former college athletes alleging their scholarships were illegally capped. In January a US federal court ruled [JURIST report] that plaintiffs may sue Apple for violating antitrust regulations by forcing users to purchase apps exclusively through their app store.

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